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Lifestyle

Roof Farms
Farming on the rooftops of Paris has been such a success that the mayor is introducing more projects. By 2020, Paris will have more] than 100 hectares (0.39 square mile) of rooftop gardens and planted walls. (Gardens and cities, benefits of gardening, information exchange: sunflowers.)Pre-Intermediate

Bug Off?
Trying new foods. This lesson is centered around different articles about bugs as a food. Australians can buy chocolate-covered bugs and cricket lollipops. Germans bored with food crowded into a restaurant in Berlin to try insects, but people in Belgium aren't too sure.(Restaurants and unusual menus, reading in detail, true or false, discussion, some/any, much/many and ordering a hamburger.)Elementary

We Used To Bath.....
A Tokyo bathhouse is offering classes on topics ranging from comedy to gaming. The bathhouse hopes to encourage younger bathers and reverse Japan's dying tradition of communal baths. (Bathhouses, Japan, traditions, used to + infinitive to talk about past actions and states that no longer occur, talking about traditions.)Pre-Intermediate

Girlfriend App
As millions in China head home to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday with their families, 24-year-old Luoluo is busy answering messages on a mobile app from desperate men looking to hire an instant girlfriend whom they can present to mom and dad. (Dating apps, phrasal verbs.)
Upper-Intermediate

Free Time ....
People tend to become less involved with community work and social groups as they age, but those who were most active in their high school years are the most likely to stay engaged as they age, researchers say. (Community involvement, young people and older people and involvement.)Intermediate

Raw Deals for Dads
With more British men wanting to take an active role in raising their children, are workplaces preventing fathers from spending more time at home, asks an inquiry launched on Monday, with men's rights groups calling for a "childcare revolution". (Dads and dads' rights, parenting and the workplace.)Upper-Intermediate

Dancing on Ice
It is a very cold morning in Budapest. Elderly Hungarians are ice dancing in the beautiful City Park Ice Rink. They skate to keep fit. (Old people and fitness, the present continuous tense, ice dancing.)Elementary

Lots of Hot Dogs!
Every year the world hot dog eating competition is held in New York. (World records, hot dogs, food, competitive eating, expressions of quantity.)Elementary Lesson Updated: 3 October 2016

Teen Childbirth a Deterrent
Girls whose friends have experienced teen childbirth are less likely to get pregnant themselves, a new study suggests. (Teenage pregnancy, speed reading, should and sharing information.)Pre-Intermediate

Superdads
Chung Sang-hoon, 34, is at home with his two small children. Chung, a salesman, took a year of paternity leave from his job in a big foreign company. Before now very few men took paternity leave. Now dads taking paternity leave is more common in South Korea. (skimming, scanning, understanding text organization)
Pre-Intermediate

A Grave Issue ...
Amid a housing crisis in Egypt, and with the population of the capital estimated at 20 million, thousands of people count themselves lucky to call Cairo Necropolis home. For some in the neighborhood of cemeteries, final resting place to hundreds of thousands people over centuries, the graves themselves provide a livelihood: with people taking care of tombs, digging new graves, or selling flowers to visitors paying their respects on Fridays. (Housing, Egypt, graveyards.)Upper-Intermediate

Grandparent Childcare
Ock Mi-eun has been taking care of her grandson since he was born two years ago so that her daughter could return to work. It is not unusual for South Koreans to pay their parents to take care of their children. But the number doing so is on the rise.(Families, childcare, grandparents, aging populations, conjunctions.)Intermediate

Back To Basics
A self-described shaman who discovered the healing powers of herbs while seeing visions on his sickbed; a former consultant for IBM who ditched PowerPoint presentations to drive across Africa and an artist from Luxembourg who is a qualified plumber. (Migration, alternative lifestyles, conjunctions.)Advanced

Square Dancing Disturbance
Chinese-style square dancing is becoming much more popular for the elderly, with millions taking to parks and plazas across China, swiveling their hips and rolling their arms - but it's not to everyone's liking.Intermediate

Wanderlust
For Americans looking to retire abroad, deciding where to live can be a challenge. But Lynne and Tim Martin took that question off the table by deciding to retire everywhere and anywhere. (Retirement and travel, word families.)Advanced

Vending Machines
It's late, the shops are closed and you simply must have a roasted eggplant-and-ricotta sandwich, a cupcake, a bike helmet, a gold bar and an iced cappuccino. (Vending machines, true, false or not given, comprehension, pronouns, discussion, the passive.)Intermediate

Writers say “Read”
This lesson is about children's books, the future of reading, and the importance of reading! It includes information on writers Malorie Blackman and Jacqueline Wilson, with Jacqueline Wilson kindly doing an exclusive interview with ETG! (Writing, reading, famous people, books, e-books, education.)Intermediate

Robots
Tiny recon robots have introduced a new generation of drones at a DSEI defense fair in London. Robots that can talk, find [lost] glasses, draw airplanes and play with your children attracted thousands of visitors at another expo. Robot nurses may soon be helping the sick by telling them when to take their pills. (Robots, nurses, health, technology, 'will', 'by + verb + ing' used to say how something is done.)Pre-Intermediate

Leftovers
Xu Jiajie has gone on countless blind dates and to numerous match-making events in search of a husband. At 31 she is under enormous pressure to get married. But the right man is hard to find, for urban, educated and well-paid Chinese women in a society where the husband's social status is traditionally above the wife's. (China, professional women, linking words, words for discourse markers.)Upper-Intermediate

You're Kidding Me!
First, there were the maid cafes and then there were cat cafes for cat lovers to play with cats while they sipped a cup of coffee. Now, there is a goat cafe. The cafe has a pair of friendly goats for customers to pet, play with and even take for walks through Tokyo's concrete jungle. (Cafes, animals, present continuous, planning a dream cafe)Pre-Intermediate

Not To Your Taste?
President Barack Obama likes burgers, hot dogs and such, but when it came time to answer a question about his favorite food, broccoli was the first word that sprang from his lips. Former American President George Bush Sr.'s famous dislike of broccoli might be put down to the fact that he could be a "supertaster". (Predicting using a headline, writing questions, summarizing the text, metaphors, writing a report, prepositions, future - will for predictions.)Intermediate

Old and Older
Two years short of 70, Zhang Guosheng spends his days caring for an 81-year-old fellow villager - a routine he'll keep up until he himself needs the type of care he is now giving. "Living here is better than staying at home alone. We help each other and have a common language," said the spritely Zhang, an enthusiastic dancer. "We are very happy here." (Aging, China, care of the elderly.)Advanced

Fill 'er Up?
Seeking a place to work out of the office that is quieter than a bustling coffee shop and provides drinks, printers, Wi-Fi and even petrol? Regus, a provider of ready-to-use office space, thinks it has the answer. It has teamed up with Shell Germany to open up workplace hubs and lounges in 70 petrol stations in and around Berlin. (Reading for information, brainstorming, expressions used with business equipment, present simple tense uses and forms).Intermediate

Old Timers
The world's oldest woman lives in Japan. (Longevity, world records, scanning, making questions, discussion.)Elementary

Runners Hit the Road
As budgets tighten and working lives get more stressful, running is experiencing a boom as people hit the parks and streets of their cities to escape from it all and keep themselves healthy for just the cost of a pair of sneakers. (Running, fitness, understanding statistics, role play on buying a pair of shoes.)Upper-Intermediate

Reading Helps Prisoners Escape
Prisoners in four prisons can read up to 12 books every year and shorten their sentence in prison by up to 48 days, the government said. (Prisons, reading, benefits of reading.)Elementary

The Best Place To Live
Once more, Vienna ranked world's nicest city and Baghdad worst. Vienna's excellent infrastructure, safe streets and good public health service make it the nicest place to live in the world, consulting group Mercer said in a global survey. (Cities and quality of life, discussion, complete the table, scanning, thinking carefully, ranking items.)Intermediate

Adolescent CEOs
Venture capitalists are funding more chief executives under age 21 than ever before. Josh Buckley, chief executive of an online gaming start-up, is looking forward to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, particularly for the parties and the schmoozing with industry A-listers. There's one problem: Buckley may be turned away from many of the parties because he is not old enough to drink. (Young entrepreneurs, work, high-tech companies, venture capitalists, 'will' + infinitive.)Upper-Intermediate

A Happy Retirement
Interested in adventure and exploring new places? An international magazine is looking for volunteers to spend a month in Cuenca, Ecuador to test its potential as a retirement destination. Applicants must be near retirement age, from the United States or Canada and be willing to relax, explore, shop and report on their experience during an all-expense paid month in the Latin American country.Upper-Intermediate

Aging in Office
Judging by their "before" and "after" photographs, U.S. presidents appear to age before our eyes, adding wrinkles and gray hair with each year in office. But contrary to conventional wisdom, a few years in the White House do not appear to cut short the lives of U.S. presidents, and most live longer than their peers, according to a new study released on Tuesday. (President of the United States, age, longevity, health.)Upper-Intermediate

That's Not Junk
One man's garbage is another man's riches, so the old saying goes. "University professor Jeff Ferrell is something of a U.S. urban Robin Hood, although what he gives away is not stolen but the result of dumpster diving. The professor of sociology looks through dumpsters and gives [most] of what he finds to the needy or to friends. (Reusing and recycling, waste disposal, vocabulary, true, false or not given, matching statements, second conditional, Trash or treasure Game, offering, requesting.)Intermediate

Counting sheep?
Britons now prefer listening to lions roaring and monkeys calling to help them get to sleep, according to a new survey. Miss too much sleep and risk becoming mentally retarded. (How to get to sleep, research, health, brain, 'even if', 'even so' and 'even though')Intermediate

Mom Salary
Many U.S. mothers feel like single parents, whether they are married or not, and two out of three resent handling all the household chores even when they prefer their partners to stand aside, a new survey shows. (Mothers, jobs, occupations, stress, income, subordinate conjunctions, linkers) Intermediate

Use it or Lose it
Experts say for those 65 and over staying active and fit can spell the difference between independence and frailty. "It's all about moving." said Neal Pire, an exercise physiologist and spokesperson for the American College of Sports Medicine. "The phrase 'use it or lose it' works here."(Aging, exercise and health.)Upper-Intermediate

Long Live The Book
India's booming publishing market is proof of the physical book's staying power, said participants at Asia's largest literary event, the DSC Jaipur Literary Festival. "You read something on Twitter and you know it is ephemeral," said Patrick French, a best-selling historian and biographer who has written extensively on Asia. "Yet the book is a solid thing. The book endures." (Future of books, printed books and e-books, reading habits of different nationalities, India.)Upper-Intermediate

Do You Like The Countryside?
A small German village needs a new doctor. The village is offering the doctor free bread, meat, flowers, haircuts and accommodation and a small Australian village needs new families. The village is offering families houses for rent for AUS$1 a week. (City versus the countryside, jobs, advertisements.)Elementary

Japan's "Iku-men"
Hiroyuki Ogino stayed home from his job in telecoms to take care of his son for a month this spring -- one of a tiny but growing number of Japanese men opting for paternity leave despite the risk to their careers. "It really is as if we are putting a minus against our names, causing problems for our colleagues by not being around to pull our weight," said Ogino, a 38-year-old father of two. (Stayhome dads, parental leave, Japan, employment issues.)Advanced

Couch Kids
American children aren't the only couch potatoes with nearly one third of children globally spending three hours a day or more watching TV or on computers, according to a study of over 70,000 teens. From Argentina to Zambia, researchers found most children aren't getting enough exercise and it made no difference if they lived in a rich or a poor country. (Children and physical activity, interpreting diagrams and graphs.)Intermediate

Family Holidays
The family vacation has changed from the days when kids in the back of the station wagon pestered their parents in front with the unending refrain, "Are we there yet?". Experts say these days the family vacation often has three generations, and when it comes to [saying what to do], it's the kids in the driver's seat and the grandparents who pay. (Families, vacations, travel, brainstorming.)Intermediate

A Woman's Place?
Women are world leaders, CEOs and are 50% of the world's workers but a poll shows that 25% of people, most of them young, think a woman's place is in the home. (Polls and statistics, gender divisions, adverbs.)Elementary

The "Lighthouse"
Sick of no morning sun in the kitchen? Is your sitting room too stifling to use on sunny afternoons? Read about a house that revolves to follow the sun. (Engineering, houses, inventions, New Zealand and Australia, idioms)Upper-Intermediate

Expensive Weddings
Thousands of Chinese women are vying to attend a lavish ball lured by the dream of a possible fairytale match with a millionaire. More than 7,000 women from all over the country are applying for just 40 tickets to Cinderella's ball, where several multi-millionaires will pay around $5,400 for the privilege of meeting them. (Marriage, finding a partner, weddings, fairytales, Cinderella quantifiers - expressions of quantity.)Intermediate

DIY
Britain's recession is making people try new things from bee-keeping to growing vegetables. One of the fastest growing is DIY butchery. (Occupations, shops, present continuous tense, state verbs, vocabulary extension.)Intermediate

Generation Y Makes Waves
They might wear flip flops to the office and address colleagues as "dude," but the youngest generation of workers brings fresh creativity and openness to the workplace. Tech-savvy and fast-working, they are also impatient, indulged and communicate differently from the rest of us - tweeting and texting and writing "CYL" for "see you later." (Generation Y in the workplace, writing a report, using -ing words in listing ideas, using agreeing and disagreeing language, solving a problem.)Intermediate

Are You a Billionaire?
Warren Buffett is 86 years old. His salary is $100,000. He is worth about $73.5 billion. (Billionaire, Warren Buffett, personal information, present simple tense forms, be/have, completing a crossword.)Elementary

Need A Granny?
Do you need a granny's love and help? A unit caring for the elderly is helping elderly people find new families. Families who need a grandparent can hire a grandmother or grandfather. (Families, the elderly, discussion, matching sentence beginnings and endings.)Elementary

Being Hollywood's Super Couple
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie talk in separate interviews on their family and plans for the future. (Famous movie stars, families, fame, second conditional, essay.)Intermediate

Germs Everywhere!
A study from Britain indicates people in the north of Britain are three times as likely to have hands contaminated with fecal bacteria than their compatriots in the south while two other articles look at the best ways to sterilize a sponge and keep a bathroom and kitchen clean. (Cleanliness, health and hygiene, imperatives and instructions.)Intermediate

Web Life
Written references could become old hat for hiring managers with one in five saying they use social networking sites to research job candidates -- and a third of them dismissing the candidate after what they discover. (Job hiring processes, social networking websites, reading a job advertisement, discussion, first and second conditionals.)Intermediate